Ramadan Beyond Fasting: Sufis and Sweets

Photo: ILENE PRUSHER

At sunset, a cannon booms in the Old City and a few shots ring out from adjacent
villages, marking the end of the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of
Ramadan. Muslims are seen rushing to get to an iftar, or breakfast meal, after a
long, hot day of refraining from drinking and eating.
For most
non-Muslims, the sights and sounds of Ramadan end there. And given the soaring
summer temperatures, the idea of fasting from dawn to dusk for a whole month
sounds exhausting, to say the least.
But those curious to see, hear and
taste a little more have been flocking to a Wednesday night series called
“Ramadan Rituals in the Old City,” sponsored by the Center for Jerusalem
Studies, an extension of al-Quds University. This Wednesday night’s gathering
featured an evening of Sufi religious music, played by a seven-man group called
Anwar al-Quds (the Luminous of Jerusalem). Sufism is Islam’s mystical tradition,
and while its adherents are well-known in countries like Turkey, it has had a
much quieter presence among Muslims here.
One of the key aspects of Sufi
religious dedication is zhiker, which involves a trance-like repetition of God’s
name. The men – including a grandfather, son and grandson from the Sabagh family
– sang “Nushkur-Allah” (Thank God) in rhythmic, mesmerizing repetition,
accompanied by different forms of drums and the occasional cymbal.
Songs
with more elaborate lyrics are about the mawlid – the Prophet Mohammed’s
birthday – and are based on Iraqi music scales that date back to the Abbasid
era. “In this tradition, the prophet is the connection with God, and you need to
sing to him in order to reach God,” explained Dr. Ali Qleibo, a professor of
cultural anthropology at al-Quds University and the emcee for the
evening.
The international visitors sat rapt, some swaying to the
spiritual cadences alongside words they couldn’t understand, some tucking into
the sweet, warm namura, a dessert pastry filled with goat’s cheese, which
waiters generously passed around the packed courtyard. Local people passing
through the Muslim Quarter’s Souk il-Qattanin, some of them on their way from
evening prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque and others shopping for gifts in the
passageway decked with festive lights and lanterns, popped in to listen and to
take photographs.
“I come from an old, urban family with Sufi roots. At
Ramadan, after the iftar meal we sang songs and then we moved to the radio,”
Qleibo explained in a discussion after the performance. Organizing performances
of Sufi music at iftar is something that in the past happened in the private
homes of the wealthy, he said, and now is more accessible as professional
religious musicians such as Anwar al-Quds are performing in the public realm.
It’s an opportunity to emphasize the rich spiritual practices of Ramadan beyond
fasting, which even many Muslims are unaware of. “Even Arabs don’t about know
about these traditions,” he said.
A young British couple and their baby,
on a two-month visit from London while they participate in an arts fellowship in
Ramallah, came because it was an opportunity to enjoy a cultural evening
connected to Ramadan. “The educational aspect – the professional attempt to
contextualize it – is really helpful,” said Jeremy Hutchinson, a visual artist,
sitting with his filmmaker wife, Vanessa, and their ten-month-old
son.
Next week’s event will include a tour of local Sufi shrines as well
as visits to several places that in the past served as a zawiya, a kind of
hostel where religious pilgrims would stay. Formal prayers would be performed in
the Noble Sanctuary [the Temple Mount], but Sufi rituals were practiced in the
zawiya, says Huda al-Imam, the center’s director. “Today, many families sit down
to watch television dramas, released especially for Ramadan, instead.”

Photo: ILENE PRUSHER

At sunset, a cannon booms in the Old City and a few shots ring out from adjacent
villages, marking the end of the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of
Ramadan. Muslims are seen rushing to get to an iftar, or breakfast meal, after a
long, hot day of refraining from drinking and eating.
For most
non-Muslims, the sights and sounds of Ramadan end there. And given the soaring
summer temperatures, the idea of fasting from dawn to dusk for a whole month
sounds exhausting, to say the least.
But those curious to see, hear and
taste a little more have been flocking to a Wednesday night series called
“Ramadan Rituals in the Old City,” sponsored by the Center for Jerusalem
Studies, an extension of al-Quds University. This Wednesday night’s gathering
featured an evening of Sufi religious music, played by a seven-man group called
Anwar al-Quds (the Luminous of Jerusalem). Sufism is Islam’s mystical tradition,
and while its adherents are well-known in countries like Turkey, it has had a
much quieter presence among Muslims here.
One of the key aspects of Sufi
religious dedication is zhiker, which involves a trance-like repetition of God’s
name. The men – including a grandfather, son and grandson from the Sabagh family
– sang “Nushkur-Allah” (Thank God) in rhythmic, mesmerizing repetition,
accompanied by different forms of drums and the occasional cymbal.
Songs
with more elaborate lyrics are about the mawlid – the Prophet Mohammed’s
birthday – and are based on Iraqi music scales that date back to the Abbasid
era. “In this tradition, the prophet is the connection with God, and you need to
sing to him in order to reach God,” explained Dr. Ali Qleibo, a professor of
cultural anthropology at al-Quds University and the emcee for the
evening.
The international visitors sat rapt, some swaying to the
spiritual cadences alongside words they couldn’t understand, some tucking into
the sweet, warm namura, a dessert pastry filled with goat’s cheese, which
waiters generously passed around the packed courtyard. Local people passing
through the Muslim Quarter’s Souk il-Qattanin, some of them on their way from
evening prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque and others shopping for gifts in the
passageway decked with festive lights and lanterns, popped in to listen and to
take photographs.
“I come from an old, urban family with Sufi roots. At
Ramadan, after the iftar meal we sang songs and then we moved to the radio,”
Qleibo explained in a discussion after the performance. Organizing performances
of Sufi music at iftar is something that in the past happened in the private
homes of the wealthy, he said, and now is more accessible as professional
religious musicians such as Anwar al-Quds are performing in the public realm.
It’s an opportunity to emphasize the rich spiritual practices of Ramadan beyond
fasting, which even many Muslims are unaware of. “Even Arabs don’t about know
about these traditions,” he said.
A young British couple and their baby,
on a two-month visit from London while they participate in an arts fellowship in
Ramallah, came because it was an opportunity to enjoy a cultural evening
connected to Ramadan. “The educational aspect – the professional attempt to
contextualize it – is really helpful,” said Jeremy Hutchinson, a visual artist,
sitting with his filmmaker wife, Vanessa, and their ten-month-old
son.
Next week’s event will include a tour of local Sufi shrines as well
as visits to several places that in the past served as a zawiya, a kind of
hostel where religious pilgrims would stay. Formal prayers would be performed in
the Noble Sanctuary [the Temple Mount], but Sufi rituals were practiced in the
zawiya, says Huda al-Imam, the center’s director. “Today, many families sit down
to watch television dramas, released especially for Ramadan, instead.”

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